Aaron B. Crabtree 1), Noah D. Manring 1) and Robert E. Johnson 2)
1) Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department University of Missouri – Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211
2) The William States Lee College of Engineering University of North Carolina – Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223
The objective of this study is to take insitu measurement of the pressure profile that exists between a sliding thrust bearing and a stationary thrust surface. Using a two-dimensional model of the bearing and the classical one-dimensional Reynolds equation, the experimental results are explained and the minimum fluid film thickness and the tilt angle of the bearing are numerically determined. In this work, it is shown that the bearings tilt into the leading edge of the bearing and that the minimum fluid-film thickness at the leading edge of the bearing is on the order of the surface roughness. This work provides fundamental insight into the problem of metal-to-metal contact for thrust bearings.
Keywords: hydrostatic thrust bearing, pressure profile, bearing tilt, Reynolds’s Lubrication equation